Paper accepted in Photonics

Our work on numerical modelling of multi-mJ scaling of few-cycle optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) at 3 µm has just been accepted for publication in MDPI Photonics.

We present a design for OPCPA and demonstrate that with a configuration of a single crystal or combination of crystals (KTA and MgO:LN) it is possible to achieve output energies above the mJ with sufficient bandwidth to allow compression to just 5-optical cycles. We consider a 1 µm mJ-level picosecond chirped-pulse amplifier (CPA), a typical pumping source for this type of nonlinear amplifiers. Compression with a simple bulk material enables reaching close to the pulse Fourier-transform limited duration, paving the way to high-energy, ultrafast mid-infrared pulses.

This work will now be pursued experimentally with the development of an upgrade to our 3 µm laser system.

J. Alves, H. Pires, C. P. João and G. Figueira, Multi-mJ Scaling of 5-Optical Cycle, 3 µm OPCPA. Photonics 8(11), 503 (2021)